Archaeology: Second find of ancient statue at Bulgaria’s Heraclea Sintica site
A team of archaeologists led by Professor Ludmil Vagalinski has found a second statue dating from antiquity during a dig in a sewer in the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica, Petrich municipality said in a Facebook post on September 20.
This follows the July 2024 discovery at the site of a near-intact ancient statue, believed to be of the god Hermes.
The municipality said that the new find was made during work in the eastern part of the sewer, very close to where the Hermes statue was found in July.
The new sculpture is also marble, imposing in size, laid face-down, unlike the first, which was placed sideways.
Heraclea Sintica was founded sometime between 356 and 339 BCE by Philip II of Macedon. The site is located in what is today south-western Bulgaria.
The theory about the statue discovered in July is that it was a vestige of pagan religion that was outlawed on the establishment of Christianity as the local religion at one point and that citizens buried the statue of the deity rather than destroy it.
The statue found in July 2024.
Another view of the statue found in July 2024.
(Photos: Petrich municipality)
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